Toronto prices balloon by 16.2 per cent in 12 months

Toronto prices balloon by 16.2 per cent in 12 months

Continuing the trend of being among Canada’s most inflamed housing markets, Toronto saw a sharp 16.2 per cent growth in average prices in just 12 months, according to the city’s realtor association.

April 2016 numbers recently released by the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) showed that this average shot upward by more than $100,000 on a year-over-year basis, from $636,094 to $739,082.

This price is over double the median value of a Toronto home a decade ago ($351,941). Just five years ago, the average was $465,014, and the post-crisis years have seen nothing but incessant inflation in housing prices.

The TREB said that the main driver of the phenomenon is the significantly increased number of buyers—who are taking advantage of record-low mortgage rates—in a market that is already feeling the weight of dwindling supply and intensifying bidding wars.

“There is a lot of competition between buyers. It gets down to the fact that there are a lot of people who are upbeat about the purchase of housing but at the same time, they're having real difficulty finding a home that meets their needs in some cases,” TREB director of market analysis Jason Mercer told the Toronto Star.

The fevered pitch of the Toronto market is pushing more and more would-be buyers to consider longer commutes from less-inflamed locales for their next purchases, according to the TREB.

For instance, sales volumes in Orangeville and South Simcoe—which play host to some of the most affordable properties in the region, averaging (respectively) $426,357 and $499,383—exhibited the fastest pace of growth on a year-over-year basis at (again, respectively) 18.9 and 17.55 per cent.